PlayStation Plus Update

While we’re smack-dab in the middle of the holiday season, we thought we’d drop in and deliver some new content for PlayStation Plus members. Don’t forget that you still have time to make Plus a great stocking stuffer for the PlayStation gamers in your life. You can buy online, get the voucher code, and then give that voucher code to your friends and family.

Now, to business! Plus members will be getting the wonderfully hilarious 8-bit styling of Retro City Rampage free, as well as extra savings on the continuation of the PSN Holiday Sale.

Important note: We’ll be updating the PlayStation Store today (Monday, 12/24) due to the Christmas holiday. Therefore, this Plus update will be live later today when the update has published.

Don’t have PlayStation Plus? Go to the PlayStation Store on your PS3 or PS Vita or click here to get access.

December 24th PlayStation Plus Update

Retro City Rampage (PS3 and PS Vita)

Free for Plus members

Retro City Rampage pays tribute to games from days gone by, while adopting the open-world gameplay of modern day titles. Crafted by a small team led by Brian Provinciano, the game features an 8-bit art style, complete with amazing chiptunes. Since this a Cross-Buy game, this Plus deal is available for both PS3 and PS Vita Plus members. Check out all the great coverage from this game from the PlayStation Blog and find out why Joystiq.com called it “…the perfect game for gamers…”.

PSN Holiday Essentials Sale (Week 2)

Various discounts for Plus members

The PSN Holiday Essentials sale continues with great deals on a number of amazing titles. Titles that you might be interested include Journey, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, and many more. Take a look at the list below:

We’ll be back next week with more Plus goodness, but make sure you make your voice heard in the comments below, and also make sure to vote in the polls. Please remember that while we closely look at the results from polls, they are but one of many factors we use when deciding how we move forward or make any changes, if any are made. You can also delve into the PlayStation Community Forums in the PS Plus space to chat more about Plus, find other like-minded gamers, and make friends! Thanks, and see you in the comments.

I don’t see anyone demanding random AAA games out of thin air. Just at least a few of the same ones as EU. Not all of them. At least a few. For some reason the defenders seem to think that the complainers are asking for top tier recently released games like Borderlands 2, Dishonored, Assassin’s Creed 3, etc. Instead, they go to extreme exaggerations that complainers are asking for EVERYTHING like the copy and paste from Ghostwize on page 3 about them wanting every single game for free and PS3s for $3 and all that nonsense when no one is saying that at all. I see the same extreme exaggerations when people can’t come up with a good argument about why they are for or against something.

Very, very, very few people are saying you don’t get more than $50 worth of content each year from Plus. You certainly do. That’s not the problem. The problem is that most of the games are very cheap or complete rubbish. Yes, it is subjective, but you have to be drunk to think RCR is in the same class as some of the free PS3 retail games EU is getting. If it was, it would cost $20 or more and not the peanuts it costs before being free on Plus.

I’ve kept it becuase of cloud saves and I keep hoping it gets closer to what it was before (good discounts).

But yes I can choose to not renew for the first time in years, if i’m willing to sacrfice the only thing I get out of Plus since the recent change, cloud saves.

So far I’m worried enough about PS3’s durability to keep paying for my save uploading. This doesn’t mean I’m happy about the completely different service, or that I’ve forgotten how good it was before it became a ‘long term’ rental service with zero choice in what we rent.

Then when we see the other version of Plus getting much higher discounts. Yes the EU pays more. Doesn’t change the fact that they get 50-66% off AAA titles at xmas. We’re lucky to get 10-25% off a much older game.

We get an ok sale, but most of the games aren’t anywhere near as new, the discounts aren’t even close, and most importantly, we keep getting the same games on sale over and over, even at xmas time.

Huh that post became half about plus half about the xmas sales… oh well at least the sales include plus discounts so it’s more or less one topic.

@Ryumoau “blueBeanhead”, lol is that supposed to be me? Not gonna lie, it kind of has a ring to it…
Anyway yea you’ll probably continue to see people like me on here as long as we continue to see people like you on here :)

I agree with your statement totally! you’re right on with what you’re saying. As he was saying all we want r better discounts and better games in comparison to other regions and yes I choose to pay but as I choose to pay I have the choice to have my voice heard. To everyone on the PlayStation blog have a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday peace and God bless :-)

I’m not usually one to post on stuff like this, but I felt compelled to comment. Words have implications and I’d hoped you would remember yours. Since you seem to have forgotten, I will list your comments here. Hopefully what you said about reading every post is true. I suppose we’ll see.
—————————-
The following are the comments posted by you that krycek76 is referring to:

PLAYSTATION PLUS UPDATE POSTED ON DEC 3

+ Morgan Haro on December 3rd, 2012 at 9:28 am said:

Stay tuned to these updates throughout the month, and I think you’ll find that we’ll have plenty of content to match EU this December!

+ Morgan Haro on December 4th, 2012 at 8:48 am said:

We’ve got some things up our sleeves on this. Stay tuned for announcements later this month; but I don’t have details to share at this time.

PLAYSTATION PLUS UPDATE POSTED ON DEC 10

+ Morgan Haro on December 10th, 2012 at 4:45 pm said:

We’ll have some great deals coming this holiday season soon enough but nothing to announce at this time. Stay tuned to the PS Blog for more info on upcoming sales.

They’re on their way! You’ll have some great updates on the PS Vita Plus before the month is out.

+ Morgan Haro on December 17th, 2012 at 11:25 am said:

There will definitely be more great updates with new Plus games in the last weeks of December.

+ Morgan Haro on December 17th, 2012 at 11:42 am said:

We’ll have more updates to the Vita’s lineup later this month; as well as some great additions to the Holiday Sale as well! As far as 2013 goes though, we’re always looking to add more value to the Plus service. We’ve come a long way, and while every update can’t be everything to everyone, there’s plenty to be excited for with Plus in 2013 =) Thanks for the feedback!

+ Morgan Haro on December 18th, 2012 at 11:10 am said:

We’ll have PS Store Updates on Dec 24th and Dec 31st; between these two updates, we’ll be delivering as much content as EU outlined.

The second comment about “something up your sleeve” is actually in reference to the Playstation All-Stars promotional sale that the EU had and wanting the US store to do something similar. I thought it was relevant because it involved the PS Vita and probably Plus. Otherwise these comments are in response to the disappointed reactions that people have with the PS3 and PS Vita Playstation Plus content of this month.

Looking at these comments, the biggest problem I see, in how you have created this impression, is that you use the word “great” far too much. Seeing this, it’s as though every game is great in your mind, or at least everything released for PS Plus. Now I know from a promotional standpoint that you can’t rag on a game, but if you had a more neutral approach (ie. “more games next week” instead of “more great games”) it would help prevent the false expectations, though I know you are supposed to get people excited for this content as you get paid to do so. But the downsides are instances like this and the disappointment of people who fell under your spell.

The other thing that likely lead to this impression was you implying that the content will match that of the EUs, though your last comment states you will be delivering “as much content as EU outlined.” “As much” definitely doesn’t always mean “as good.”

Now, you have said numerous times that whether a game is good, great, or terrible is subjective, and at a base level, that is undeniable. But in this day and age, popular opinion is easy to track and determine, so I feel it should have been fairly easy for the Holiday Essentials and PS Plus team to guess at how these updates would be received. As determining popular opinion based on these comments is part of your job, I think you’d understand that. Any other time, the disappointment of this month’s updates wouldn’t be such a big deal, but it’s the holidays! There is no excuse for such a poor lineup during the Holiday Season.

Making this a weekly mandatory copy/paste!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D
Listen I am going to speak for all of us “complainers”.
All we want is everything for Plus that Europe and Japan has.
Also we want every game ever released on PSN ever.
Also make every game that was released on disc put on PSN and then given to Plus members.
We also need the following PS1 games available and given to Plus members:
ALL OF THEM
We also need the following PS2 games available for PSN members:
ALL OF THEM
Also why can’t we play Nintendo and Microsoft games on our PS3? We want the following games for PS3:
ALL OF THEM
Also we want the following PS3 games on Vita:
ALL OF THEM
Why is Plus $50 a year? Seems like you would sell a lot of more PS3 if you gave away Plus.
Also why is the PS3 still $300? You would sell a lot more if it was $3. You would make it up in volume sales!! Also you would sell a lot of Playstation T-shirts and we would go to Playstation concerts if you just gave away the games.
If you don’t do all of these things I am buying a 360 and Sony will crumble as a result. HEED MY WORDS!!!

I really don’t see why people keep complaining about how the EU ps plus has better games. Sure some games over there are more appealing but still the price you pay for ps plus gets payed by itself with some games you see right now in the us ps plus like infamous 2, LBP 2, Bioshock 2 and others. The best thing to do is just play the games there are and wait for more to come out. I remember a year ago there was barely any content and now it’s a pretty great deal, more and more/better and better games will come to ps plus as time progresses it’s just a simple matter of waiting and enjoying what’s available now.We’re about to start 2013 and im guessing there are great things stored for this new year.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

At least the sales are decent this week, but it really seems like they’re consistently scraping the bottom of the barrel for free games this month. EU is getting WAY better games than us, could we at least get an RPG instead of fighting games and beat em ups?

Stop being an entitled little brat. Morgan promised Vita additions before the end of the month (because myself and many others kept asking about it every week since it launched)…we just got one and there’s still another update to go. As he said, they can’t please everyone all the time. I wish we got Big Sky, but I’m glad to have Retro City over Mortal Kombat. I’m sure others agree with me. And I’m sure others don’t.

PS+ is a year-long subscription. In one month the Vita has gotten Uncharted, Gravity Rush, Mutant Blobs, Wipeout, jet set radio, ff tactics, and now Retro City Rampage. That’s seven games in one month and will most likely be eight by next week.

When I bought PS+, I didn’t expect free AAA games, I expected free indie games. Any free AAA game is a nice bonus, but not something I expect.

This update blows, there is absolutely nothing great; games of this month have been less than good. You are telling me that retro city rampage is as good as vanquish? or that discounts on mortal kombat are as good as discounts of farcry3?

Last year Playstation plus was so much better, even around christmas time, come on! Give us an ACTUAL game that WE WANT! We don’t want some dumb indie game that nobody wants to play, give us a choice of mainstream games on a poll and let us vote for the one WE WANT.

@Drewcey hats off man. u r soo right… they make us get our hopes high for a good game and we are just disappointed with these lackusters. i wouldn’t mind getting RCR if we had a good game accompanied with it.. hope next week would be better. at gis stage i will wait for my ps plus to expire and sign in for a EU account. four free minis. ps plus trial… deals of xmas… better games on plus… so much more…

Again, another disappointing week. Morgan needs to cut it out with the “we’ve got GREAT stuff coming next week”, “we’ve got content to match EU this month”, because it’s just not true. It never is. He’s a damn liar, every time. This was the CHRISTMAS update… and all we got was some 8bit game. Really? That’s the BEST you could come up with for Christmas? “Hey guys, we know we’ve been disappointing you month after month, so for Christmas we’re going to make up for all of that by giving you a game that you never wanted to play anyway! Happy Holidays!”.

Then there’s the deals, where half the games are games that anyone who was interested would have bought by now, and then the other half are games that no one wants to play, much less even pay for. If Morgan is the one in charge of the Plus updates then he should be demoted or fired. His job is to provide great value for his customers, and to keep them happy. He’s been completely failing month after month. The polls show that week after week, without fail, the vast majority of Plus subscribers aren’t happy at all with the service. Yet he does nothing to fix that, all he does is give lame excuses or make false promises. Either step up and do your job, or give the job to someone who is actually capable of doing it.

Morgan, Ray on last week’s post said that this weeks plus update would be on par with EU’s update are you kidding.Why is it that all we get are bogus statement’s,if you don’t beleive me read his last post.EU got 50% off Farcry 3 and they are getting Mortal Kombat for free and what do we get Retro City Rampage what a joke.Stop treating us like kid’s,for the people who say stop complaining this service gives you nothing for free you are renting the games they decide to give us so stop it.Mortal Kombat for 15 buck’s that’s what it cost at gamestop right now and the complete edition for 30 dollars in the psn store 50.So what are the great deal’s that we are getting?. Duke Nukem for 10 buck’s at gamestop 5 buck’s.Morgan you guy’s get your dtuff together because this is really getting old.

It isn’t “spoiled” when you’re actually PAYING for a service, and just want to be treated equally to other subscribers. Here in North America, we are NOT treated equally. We consistently get games that are a) worth less than the games that EU gets, b) of overall lower quality, c) usually just indie/PSN games whereas EU gets a ton of big retail games. So no, we are not spoiled. We just don’t take crap as easily as you do.

And here’s a fun fact for you: On average, EU gets 2 to 3 times more value with their IGC, compared to the subscribers in North America who pay the same amount of money for what is supposed to be the same service. That’s like 2 people paying the same price for a service that gives you a new car every month. Person A gets a Geo Tracker, while person B gets a Cadillac Escalade. They pay the same amount. Would you be happy with that service? Probably not.

lol it’s funny to see people attack drewcey when all he is doing (albeit over many posts) is pointing out how Morgan has promised high quality, EU like updates for late this month/the xmas sales.

Those are morgan’s own posts he’s quoting, how is that such a bad thing? Pointing out that the blog staff’s comments have yet to be true, and are possibly misleading in how they’re stated, is simply pointing out facts.

As far as the Vita part of Plus goes, I have no complaints on that side. Ton of content for the short term we’ve had it, and for once it’s a version of IGC with games I haven’t played.

Most importantly I forget to say, whether you love hate or don’t care about the sales/plus, everyone have a happy holiday season!

@221 Volcomkewl How was last year better? You’re bashing an ‘indie game nobody wants’ yet that’s pretty much all we had last year. In 2011, most of the games were PSP Minis (All Indies), PSN titles, PS1 games, and the only retail games we got were Far Cry 2 and Tomb Raider Underworld. This year we got far more mainstream games like Little Big Planet 2, Saints Row 2, Infamous 2, Virtua Fighter 5: FS, Street Fighter IV: AE, Shift 2: Unleashed, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, Borderlands, Resident Evil 5 Gold, King of Fighters XIII, Just Cause 2, etc. plus some Vita games. I enjoyed most of the PS Plus games last year, but what reasons do you have that 2011 was better than 2012? The sales? I’m curious…

Sorry to say this but this whole month has been weak. I expected a lot out of Sony after this whole fiscal year, especially figuring that Christmas actually FALLS on a Tuesday. Every time you seem to hype up the month and I think it makes it worse. When you instil confidence for the upcoming weeks, it’s normal that people would expect something amazing. I’m pretty sure every week the leading poll was “nothing for me”. I hope Sony takes this month and recognizes it has a problem on it’s hands. I say they should make a Hardcore plus and a casual plus. Because it seems like it’s just for casual gamers.

Why not offer 1 “hardcore” game and 1 “casual” game? The person would have to make a choice and the PSN would track it. Just like how they did to make up for being hacked. I know it can be done. Please I just ask to make this better and hope you guys all have a Merry Christmas.

I don’t understand. In your OFFICIAL blog post, you say that Metal gear solid HD collection for the “PS3″ is on sale. But when I look at it on the store, it isn’t on sale! So please make the price on PSN correct.

Morgan cant please everyone, he is just excited a game is coming out, he is excited for his hard work and the team hard work.. Im not saying you be silent and except with a smile .. but its gets tired after some time reading expectation and belitlement of morgan all the time. his name is morgan aharo not morgan please em all.. I saw alot great deal like papa & yo but alot want focus ont henegative like they got unit 13 price wrong. or eu got this game.. Sometime its best to be happy they are happy 4 u. also happy gaming to you and merry christmas.:)

No one want comment on how they gave us 2 world 2 for 5$ with 100$ worth in dlc.

Thanks for Retro City Rampage. I was planning on purchasing the game anyways but still playing other games so I’ve put it off. Now that I’m getting it free no need to purchase it.

People need to give it a break about all the PS+ bashing. Europe gets different games, better in certain opinions. The free games also always have a chance of being something you own as they’re usually going to be games that have low sales expectancy anymore.

On the off chance that you get something you haven’t already purchased, be grateful. You’re paying $50 for free games and great deals year round. There have hardly been any retail releases on PS+ that I haven’t owned, but I just recently signed up because as someone who rarely purchases anything digital and the Vita being added to the PS+, I just felt that now seemed to be the best time to sign up.

I own a lot of PSP games that I can’t play on my Vita since they’re physical copies. I’m not going to cry if a Vita game doesn’t come out every month, but I atleast want to see one good PSP game a month.

Not that excited about this week, but people who haven’t gotten Journey yet, jump on this. I’ll play around with Retro City Rampage, but not really my cup of tea. I’m in an RPG mood. Gimme more RPG’s. (and not JRPG’s :P)
I’m reasonably sure I’m getting at least a couple Playstation cards tomorrow, lets see some stuff on sale I would buy :)

Bad joke aside I keep reading people want RPGs in the ICG, while I partly agree seeing it’s my favorite genre (could be DA1, or ME1.. or FF.. or you know, any that is about $20 or less at your local gamestop).. TW2 is almost considered free for 5 bills, sure it isn’t the greatest game out there and it has a lot of flaws, but it actually grows on you after a while. It’s one of those games that makes you want to hit yourself in the face at times but that you can’t put down until the next quest… and the next level… and you end up with a bruised face and a somewhat fun experience in the end. I highly recommend you -the reader- to try it out, it’s well worth every penny especially… for 5 of them. Let my charms work on you, and go click ‘BUY NOW’… now.

Happy holidays pretty gamers.

Little note to Morgan: If you entice the team to discount New Little King’s Story, I will love you like a brother (censored this to keep it family friendly, but you know what I mean, and I know you’d rather not know what I mean, you know what I mean?).

If you’re so jealous of the other fellow gamers over at the EU, why don’t you get an EU PS Plus account as well?
That’s what I did a few weeks back, when they had the 3 month EU PS sub thing at less than half price.
I bought a UK PSN card and subscribed. They deserve my money, and so does the US PSN store.

And we are all gaming console owners (Ps3, Wii U/Wii, 360), this hobby or entertainment past time
we chose, is a premium expense. If we are able to afford a Ps3 console and a handful of games,
why not go out and actually buy the games in the stores instead of getting on your knees, complaining
begging for SONY to give you the game for Free? And you expect AAA games per week?
LIke another poster posted here before me, I signed up onto PSN Plus for the “PSN” Indie games,
I didn’t sign up for FREE handout rentals of just released 3rd party games.

You are probably like among many of the so called “PS Plus” members who signed up during the summer
of this year’s E3 of FREE PS Plus games. Unlike myself and a few others here who actually signed up
for PS Plus on DAY ONE. And we didn’t moan or complain like you or many others who are recent PS Plus
subscribers just to get FREE PS Plus games.
Listen up, NOTHING in Life is FREE. And you can’t get everything you want. You have to earn it,
work for it and get it yourself. When you reach the proper age, you’ll find out how it is to live in the real
world to work for everything you want and not expect anything for free (unless there’s a catch).

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have multiple Ps3s and I signed up to PS Plus because of the 1 gigabyte of online cloud storage, saving me time and pain from losing and transferring game saves.
Not to mention the automatic updates/patches and trophy auto syncing. And for those of us who were
on PS Plus before the begging of time, for the episodes of Qore (which is no defunct).

Merry Christmas and hope you all got the gifts you wanted and begged mom/dad for!

@Morgan Wasn’t referring to Share as a whole being out of date… new ideas just haven’t been posted for months now. It would be great if it did get a facelift but approve more ideas otherwise what is the point in suggesting them at all?